Found roof leak, but have question
 

Last week I posted a problem with finding a roof leak. Well I managed
to get up on the roof a few days ago with a water hose, and I aimed it
right at where it was leaking in the attic. Sure enough, when I went
into the attic I saw water dripping, so at least I found it rightaway,
as opposed to the water traveling from another spot.
But even so, when I looked at the spot on the roof, I could not see any
damage. I noticed that the edges of the shingles were glued down.
Anotherwords the manufacturer had put a thin layer of roof cement under
the edges so it would seal by itself in the sun.
So I carefully lift the edges breaking the seal, and then water came
out. I guess the water was somehow entering the sides and being trapped
under the shingle and making its way up to the nail under it. I did
this to a few shingles on my roof and noticed the same thing, water
coming out from underneath. So I took some roofing cement and with a
putty knife managed to cover the nails under the shingles in the spot
of the leak. Last night I went to check for leaks during the rainstorm
we had, so far no leaks.
But has anyone ever heard of this problem? Why are the edges sealed in
the first place?

Found roof leak, but have question
 

coming out from underneath. So I took some roofing cement and with a
putty knife managed to cover the nails under the shingles in the spot
of the leak. Last night I went to check for leaks during the rainstorm
we had, so far no leaks.
But has anyone ever heard of this problem? Why are the edges sealed in
the first place?

They're sealed to keep the lower edge from lifting in the wind,
but they're supposed to be held down with just a dot of glue
on each tab, not a continuous bead.

Found roof leak, but have question
 

I can't tell if its a continuous bead or just dots.But it seemed like
the whole shingle was sealed down. In any event, I noticed water
coming out when I lifted the shingles.

Found roof leak, but have question
 

Mikepier wrote:
I can't tell if its a continuous bead or just dots.But it seemed like
the whole shingle was sealed down. In any event, I noticed water
coming out when I lifted the shingles.

It's a continuous bead of dots. ;) The dab of roofing cement on the
nail heads can fix these things a lot of times, but the real question
is why is there so much water under those shingles. There should be
none or close to it.

Now you have to find out why water is getting under those shingles,
otherwise you're just covering up the problem. There might be some
out-of-order flashing/layering near that valley termination that's
shunting water under the shingles. Need to see it. Take some pictures
where you did your patching and post them.

R

Found roof leak, but have question
 

You found and treated a symptom, but you have not found the
problem. The water should not ever have been under the shingle.
You either have a bad flashing or a bad valley installation in the
area. The one other thing that occurs to me is that you do not
have enough pitch on the roof to use composition shingles. Most
manufacturers require 3 in 12 minimum.




(top posted for your convenience)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Mikepier" wrote in message
ups.com...
Last week I posted a problem with finding a roof leak. Well I
managed
to get up on the roof a few days ago with a water hose, and I
aimed it
right at where it was leaking in the attic. Sure enough, when I
went
into the attic I saw water dripping, so at least I found it
rightaway,
as opposed to the water traveling from another spot.
But even so, when I looked at the spot on the roof, I could not
see any
damage. I noticed that the edges of the shingles were glued
down.
Anotherwords the manufacturer had put a thin layer of roof
cement under
the edges so it would seal by itself in the sun.
So I carefully lift the edges breaking the seal, and then water
came
out. I guess the water was somehow entering the sides and being
trapped
under the shingle and making its way up to the nail under it. I
did
this to a few shingles on my roof and noticed the same thing,
water
coming out from underneath. So I took some roofing cement and
with a
putty knife managed to cover the nails under the shingles in the
spot
of the leak. Last night I went to check for leaks during the
rainstorm
we had, so far no leaks.
But has anyone ever heard of this problem? Why are the edges
sealed in
the first place?

Found roof leak, but have question
 

I'll try to post some pics soon.

Found roof leak, but have question
 

By the way, forgot to mention, I went into the attic last night and
still found a leak, so I guess It's back to square one.

Found roof leak, but have question
 

Here are the pics. Where you see my red caulking gun is where the roof
leak is in the attic. As you can see this is a split level house, and
although there is an adjacent wall joining the roof, I do not think it
is coming from there because there is a soffit overhang as you can see
and it's pretty dry underneath there and usually does not get that wet
in the rain.
http://mp656.photosite.com/roofleak/

Found roof leak, but have question
 

Also I forgot to mention. On that area of the roof you will notice it
is stained darker than the rest of the roof. Is this because there is a
leak present at that location?

Found roof leak, but have question
 

Mikepier wrote:
Here are the pics. Where you see my red caulking gun is where the roof
leak is in the attic. As you can see this is a split level house, and
although there is an adjacent wall joining the roof, I do not think it
is coming from there because there is a soffit overhang as you can see
and it's pretty dry underneath there and usually does not get that wet
in the rain.
http://mp656.photosite.com/roofleak/

The stain is from that area taking longer to dry out than the rest of
the roof. You said that water was coming out from underneath the
shingles when you lifted them - that water would drain down slowly and
keep the shingle surface moist allowing stuff to grow (stain).

From the looks of it, I'd guess that the water is getting under the
shingles where that valley terminates near the end of the gutter. If
they didn't flash that area correctly, you won't be able to fix it with
dabs of roofing cement. That'll only get in your way later when you
have to remove nails/shingles.

It's entirely possible that the shingles/flashing look fine from the
surface, but that there's something wrong underneath. The first thing
I'd do would be to start looking more closely at that valley
termination. You may have to remove the section of gutter over the
roof and pull a few shingles. Pulling shingles in colder weather is a
pain in the ass as they're not very flexible and you can crack a
shingle pretty easily.

Post some pictures of that valley termination with greater detail - the
pictures you posted are pretty small.

R

Found roof leak, but have question
 

Yeah, I was in kind of a rush taking those pictures cause I had to pick
up my kid from school. Ok I'll try again.

Found roof leak, but have question
 

Ok I added some close up pics to my album: I honestly do not think its
coming from the valley area because I found the leak rightaway when I
put the water hose over the leak spot ( where you see the red caulking
gun in the picture).
http://mp656.photosite.com/roofleak/